SEAN MCCARTHY: Keeping his dream alive

What do Harrison Hospital, the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Microsoft and Florida have in common?

I'll give you three guesses, and the first two better not include the name, word or nation of Chad.

Sorry.

In fact, I'm sorrier still to report that all of the above currently are embroiled in lawsuits alleging racial discrimination. Reading the headlines, you have to remind yourself it's 2001, not 1963.

Say it ain't so.

And yet, despite the hopes and efforts of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and many others, King's dream -that people be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character -remains largely unfulfilled.

"It concerns me, and I'm not surprised," said Lawrence Robertson, the pastor of Emmanuel Apostolic Church in Bremerton, who is helping lead a Unity March and special service at 3 p.m. today in King's honor.

Not surprised? How could this be? What's stopping us from realizing the dream?

"We need to have some honest dialogue," Robertson said. "I think that, you know, trying to legislate people's heart is a tough business. Because this stuff has to be in us to show tolerance and show concern. If you've been taught as a child to not be accepting of other people or respect other people ... it's tough to break that."

The dialogue, already under way in schools and churches, needs to expand.

"We just have to, at every level at every place, be conscious of having people be included and be tolerant," Robertson said.

Growing up as a child in Texas, Robertson said "you knew where you stood."

Here in the Pacific Northwest, it's different.

"Up here, it's kind of subtle."But one thing is for sure, he said. "Racism is alive and well in Kitsap County."

And in King County and Miami-Dade County and too many places in between.

You can try to avert your eyes and cover your ears.

But seeing no evil and hearing no evil does not make it all go away.

As Cheryl Harris, the nursing assistant who is suing the hospital, told me:"Anytime injustice is done against one person, it's done against all people."

I was intrigued, then, to hear what Gwen Shepherd had to say -not only because Shepherd works at the hospital, but also because she heads the local NAACP.

Shepherd said the Bremerton NAACPwould declare Monday "Dignity Day" and kick off a 21-month voter education and registration drive.

"We as humans don't get it,"she said. "There are so many of us who are still wrestling with diversity and differences."

But she does not believe that everybody who is intolerant means to be bigoted.

"I think people do things because they've done it all their lives and they don't know how it affects other people," Shepherd said.

Think about how you feel when someone makes an offensive comment or joke at another's expense. Think about how you feel when you see images of hatred on TV.

Do you laugh? Do you change the channel?Do you refer to people as us or them, to problems as ours or theirs?

You do not need to be liberal or conservative to be compassionate. You simply need to be human and humane.

That is the dream Ihave today. Ihope you share that dream, too.

Sean McCarthy writes a weekly column for The Sun.

Phone: (360) 792-5244

Fax: 479-7681

e-mail: smccarthy@thesunlink.com

More Reading...

Cynthia Galloway of Bremerton participated in song worship before a Wednesday evening study group at Emmanuel Apostolic Church in Bremerton. The study group is examining University of California at Berkeley professor John McWhorter's book "Authentically Black," which asserts that black Americans stress taking ... [Read More...]

We all now know how difficult counting votes can be. But who knew counting people could be so difficult? The residents of Bainbridge Island, that's who. Reading these pages this month, you might think Bainbridge has issued an islandwide missing persons report. First ... [Read More...]

It's not easy keeping Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream alive, or even understanding all that his dream encompassed. As Yolanda King said during her presentation in Everett recently, the civil rights movement seems like ancient history to some people. It's easy to ... [Read More...]

Gwen Shepherd, who recently completed a four-year term as president of the Kitsap NAACP, is passionate in her mission to enhance health-care for blacks. Shepherd, shown here admiring Harrison Hospital's fish tank, also was instrumental in crafting the hospital's diversity statement. Staff photo ... [Read More...]

To the Class of 2001: Remember back when you were a wee little lad or lass and you pictured the day you would be done with school forever? No more teachers. No more books. No more, er, the point is, it was a long ... [Read More...]